You may be thinking this is clickbait. It’s not. This past week, we had a truly “throwaway” lease clause that had cost the owner more than $10m in value on the property. Not one clause in every lease at the property, but one clause in one lease. The clause – “The tenant may offset percentage… Continue reading The throwaway lease clause that cost more than $10m in value
A little more than a year ago, we addressed the timing/matching of real estate periods. Perhaps it was taxes reconciled for a calendar year, but taxes were paid on a fiscal year. Some landlord would take six months of one fiscal period and six months of another to match those fiscal periods to the calendar… Continue reading Real estate tax timing in a purchase
It’s not unusual to see terms referenced several times throughout a lease. Often, it will be a definition of a concept in one clause and the use of that defined term in another. But, sometimes, it can be confusing as to why a term is mentioned multiple times. Case in point is when insurance or… Continue reading Taxes and insurance addressed in CAM – and then again, separately
I have the honor of serving on our city’s development authority. It is a recent appointment, so I cannot take any credit for the great things that have been done already. As part of the appointment, I was required to take a class that included a couple of hours on tax incentives and bond financings.… Continue reading Considering the proper treatment of tax abatements and incentives in your leases
Last week we addressed a few of the issues to consider related to excluded area contributions, but two properties that we worked on this week made me realize I missed discussing two very significant issues – refunds/credits and recaptures as they relate to excluded area tenants. At one of the properties, an excluded area tenant… Continue reading A few more issues related to excluded area contributions
When a tenant pays a prorata share of taxes or CAM, there are often defined excluded areas. Most typically, those defined excluded areas are either directly assessed, self-maintaining or insured, or are paying at a rate significantly less than full prorata. By defining those areas as “excluded areas,” the landlord reduces it absorption of CAM… Continue reading Excluded area contributions
Back when I first got into the industry in the late 1980s, if I needed information on a property’s real estate taxes, it was not unusual to actually have to go to physically go to a county assessor’s office and access the data on microfiche. Fortunately, those days are long gone. For the most part,… Continue reading Real estate tax resources
When reconciling operating expenses, timing is often pretty straightforward. The tenants make monthly escrow payments throughout the year. The landlord reconciles the calendar year and applies those payments. An additional billing or credit is applied to a tenant’s account. However, taxes are a different story. While some municipalities bill taxes for calendar years, many bill… Continue reading Real estate tax timing issues
Often in retail, tenants will be required to pay their share of taxes using the square footage of the tax parcel of which they are apart. In other cases, they will be required to pay based upon the leasable area of the shopping center excluding separately assessed premises. Sometimes, just looking at the tax map… Continue reading Why look at a municipality’s tax maps or GIS data?
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